Wales' New Education Minister - 1 out of 10 So Far

Hardly living up to Leighton Andrews' hard-hitting political style, new Wales Education minister, Huw Lewis is proving to be a big dissapointment already.

The new face of Welsh Education - and more pupil attaintment disasters to come.

 
Mr. Lewis has recently commented he "wont be ushering in any drastic changes."

That's a real pity, because drastic changes, of course, are precisely what a bottom-of-pile education system needs in Wales.

He is, however, clever enough to realise that the imminent PISA results for Wales aren't going to be good.  He 'predicts' this, but anyone with half an interest in education within Wales (that is, most of the education system), will know it's damned obvious it's not going to cut it, come autumn.

It's a great pity that, rather than spending his time telling Wales Online what he's actually going to do, he immediately launches into the tired-old tit-for-tat politics that has come to characterise relations between a Welsh Labour Government and that laughing its head off at us in Westminster.

Huw Lewis should stop playing party politics and get back to Leighton Andrews' mission to make a difference.  It's a real shame we sack people who hold up a placard, whilst sticking-in insipid politicians with little evident idea of how to shake up the education system.

Mark so far, Mr. Lewis?  1 out of 10 seems generous.

Spending your Money on Cosy Rooms

Reports abound this week about expenditure by Gwynedd Council on meeting rooms in hotels.

For gleefully spending taxpayers' hard-earned cash, enquire within...

A recent news report recounts:

"An internal audit  by Gwynedd found that “various council officers favour paying for the hire of external meeting rooms rather than using the council rooms”.

"It added: 'It was seen that this expenditure has reduced over the last three years, but when considering the pressure on the council to reduce costs, all of the expenditure cannot be justified.'”

One must question why "certain officers favour paying for... external meeting rooms."

Could it be something to do with the Freemasons?

One hotel named in the news reports as being a favoured venue, though not implicated in any wrongdoing, is the Celtic Royal, Caernarfon.  A mere quick walk from the Council offices, one might say it's very convenient.  Not cheap to the taxpayer, but convenient, yes.

Councils and Freemasons aren't seen as a healthy combination. 

The Celtic Royal has historically also been the favoured venue for Caernarfon area Freemasons' meetings, though there is nothing to suggest simply offering its services indicates any wrongdoing on the part of the hotel. 

The link between masonry and councils in north Wales has always been a hot topic of complaint and concern.  It seems there may yet be more concern to hold.
 

Able Pupils in Wales - A Basketcase System

As this blog almost weekly notes, Wales is well behind compared with the educational attainment of children elsewhere.  For the past few years, it has been the subject of something approaching panic, as education authorities across Wales go into special measures for their failures, and an increasing number of schools are blasted for their part in the debacle.

What the welsh education system won't be producing anytime soon.

One policy that is said to be a "National Priority" by the Welsh Government and its inspectorate, Estyn, is that relating to more able and talented pupils.

Despite the hyperbole, only rarely - and these are Estyn's own words - is there evidence of an able pupils policy working in anything like an ideal way.  In many cases, it doesn't operate at all.  How's that for a national priority?

Even reaching a definition of the terms 'able' and 'talented' immediately leads to utter confusion.  One agency will use one definition, a school somewhere else will lift a definition of the first internet site they consult and mindlessly adopt that.  Inevitably, there are even workshops to thrash out what a consensus definition might be.

The statistics bear out the confusion.  At the end of the Foundation Phase, you have attainment or outcome levels 1-6 (with a few tragic categories below 1) and then an 'A'.  Let's look at the definitions from 5 onwards:

(5) The expected outcome for most but not all children.  Everyday language: average ouctome.

(6) Outcome above average.  Everyday language: not very clear, but doing very well might be good.

(A) Outcome significantly above average.  Everyday language: more able pupils.

Category (A) should mesh nicely with the 10-20% upper achievers in any cohort.  To be clear, that's because 10-20% means the child is performing above 80-90% of their peers.  'Significantly above average' matches this perfectly.

But.  What happens when we look at real world data?  I take the example of a very well-respected school that shall remain anonymous.  It, like just about all schools, seems to stop reporting anybody attaining above level 6.  It's not clear - at all - why that is. 

Indeed, it doesn't make any sense.

If we expect 10-20% of pupils will fly above the rest, where on earth are they in the yearly outcome figures?  Absent, is the only available answer.  For the Wales average, it seems a tiny number of schools do report level (A), coming in after averaging with the overwhelming majority that don't bother, at between 0.2 to 0.3% of the end of Foundation Phase year. 

The system is a Welsh mess.  It needs sorting out as a matter of urgency.  Not only are kids unable to work their maths out, the very people setting their education system in place are lost.

If you are a parent having the misfortune of trying to explain all this to a headteacher, God help you!  You will be met with some bland and usually senseless explanation as to why their school does things differently or not at all.  Otherwise, the school will simply see itself a victim of the 'way things are done', and shrug its shoulders.  If you persist in trying to get the best for your able child, I predict that you will quickly find yourself frustrated and possibly falling out over obvious errors of logic within the education system.

The sad reality at the moment in Wales is that there is both a philosophical antagonism and lack of resources to provide the support high flying pupils need and are expected to be given.  It is a toxic mix of factors that in pretty much all schools means able pupils are simply left to rot.

Far from being a National Priority, the implementation of the Welsh Government's Able Pupils Policy is a National Disgrace.